General News
Below are links to stories of general interest in relation to aviation and airports.
CBI, aviation industry, BAA etc say (again …) UK will become a branch line without Heathrow 3rd runway
The Chief Policy Director of the CBI says “The UK is becoming a branch-line destination on the route map of global airlines." And for some reason she feels the need to also say that "Such is the threat to the UK's prominence that Dubai is set to overtake Heathrow by 2016 as the world’s largest international airport." So what? Dubai is more centrally located than London for global traffic. She also fears Heathrow will be overtaken by Paris or Frankfurt. The director of airline Etihad says (surprise surprise) “Heathrow will not be able to compete unless it opens another runway.” That's because he wants two more flights per day to Dubai. And BAA boss Colin Matthews will unveil new research showing 53% of airlines are increasing their flights out of other countries due to the severe capacity restraints at Heathrow. And more along those lines ....
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Stop Stansted Expansion calls on the CAA to tackle the environmental impacts of aviation
Stop Stansted Expansion (SSE) has called on the CAA, to do much more to tackle the adverse environmental impacts of the industry, particularly for communities near to airports. In its response to an environmental consultation by the Civil Aviation Authority, Stop Stansted Expansion makes clear that fine words will not be enough without measurable targets and timescales to ensure progress towards meaningful goals. Top of SSE’s list for action is reduced aircraft noise during take offs and landing, as well as addressing night noise from both aircraft and airport operations and helicopters. SSE wants the CAA to be far more active on environmental issues and is also pressing for it to become an independent environmental watchdog for the aviation industry.
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Jeff Gazzard: Let’s do the maths on third Heathrow runway CO2 emissions
Jeff Gazzard, in a letter in the Guardian, rejects the comment by Richard Deakin (head of NATS) last week that - and this is a literal quote - "the single biggest thing we could do to reduce CO2 in the UK is to build a third runway at Heathrow". Barely a credible statement. Jeff shows that the CO2 produced by aircraft stacking over London is perhaps 219,000 tonnes CO2 per year, compared to around 19 million tonnes per year from planes using Heathrow. So the stacking is about 1.16% of the total. And a 3rd runway would perhaps generate another 7 million tonnes per year. If so, the amount of CO2 wasted now in stacking would be about 3 - 4% of that produced by runway 3.
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Virgin Atlantic to appeal against BMI sale to BA
Virgin is to appeal against the European Commission's decision to allow the owner of British Airways, IAG, to buy the airline BMI. IAG, which also owns Iberia, has been given the go-ahead to buy its smaller rival from Lufthansa for £172.5m, and the deal is expected to take effect on 20 April. But Virgin said that the Commission "seemingly ignored all of the strong cases" made against the deal. Branson criticised the Commission for reaching its conclusion in 35 working days, and the way only 12 out of the 56 daily pairs (56 is 8.5% of the total) of Heathrow slots Bmi owned will be released to other airlines. Also that the deal puts BA in a position of market dominance at one of the world’s busiest airports. Virgin will bid for all the 12 slots that BA has been forced to give up.
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Ryanair cuts 8 routes from Edinburgh airport and 4 from Liverpool
Ryanair is cutting some of its operations at Edinburgh Airport. It will close 8 routes and 60 weekly flights from October 2012. Winter routes affected include Bratislava, Bremen, Frankfurt, Fuerteventura, Gothenburg, Kaunas, Lodz and Poznan. In February, Ryanair cut five routes from its summer schedule, after a breakdown in talks with BAA over airport charges - which it wants lowered. Ryanair claimed the latest cuts would see Edinburgh Airport traffic fall by 500,000 passengers a year and lead to the loss of up to 500 "on-site" jobs. Ryanair says APD is causing it to cut flights from Liverpool to Milan, Rome and Rimini, all in Italy, throughout summer, and Almeria - and cut the frequency of others. Strange that a £13 tax has that effect, when Ryanair happily adds so many other charges, such as €20 per kilo of extra luggage, and €60 for not checking in online.
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Threat to a village called Wilton from proposed 2nd Sydney airport
There have been demands for many years for another airport for Sydney (Australia) as it is claimed that the current airport is nearly full, and that demand for flying is increasing fast, and will continue to do so. It is even predicted that it will quadruple by 2050. One possible site is called Badgerys Creek, not far from Sydney, though there are many problems with the site. Another potential site is Wilton, a village 80 kilometres south-west of Sydney. This is proving to be very controversial, and there is strong opposition building from local residents against having their homes destroyed, and their lives ruined, by having a massive new airport on their doorstep. Usual pressure by the aviation industry to press for more capacity, with the usual threats of economic doom etc if it is not built. Sounds familiar? They should twin Wilton with Sipson.
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Proposed Thames Hub airport in ‘very worst spot’ say air traffic controllers, NATS
Thames estuary would be in the "very worst spot" for the south-east's crowded airspace, according to the boss of Britain's air traffic control service, Nats. Richard Deakin, chief executive of Nats, said the architects of the Thames Hub airport had not contacted them beforehand to discuss its feasibility. Norman Foster and partners unveiled the blueprints of the £50bn project last November. Deakin said the proposed site for the new airport, on the Isle of Grain, was directly under the convergence of major arrival and departure flight paths for four of London's five airports. He added: "We're a little surprised that none of the architects thought it worthwhile to have a little chat" with the air traffic controllers. The proximity of Amsterdam's Schiphol airport would also affect traffic patterns and force aircraft into more circuitous flight paths.
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British Airways to axe 1,200 jobs in bmi takeover
BA says it has began consultation with trade unions on the integration of the loss-making airline, bmi. IAG was given regulatory clearance to buy bmi from the European Commission 2 weeks ago. Bmi is losing more than £3m a week, is not a viable business, and, without the acquisition, was facing closure with the potential loss of all 2,700 UK based jobs. The consultation proposes the full integration of bmi mainline into BA securing approximately 1,500 jobs. The integration proposals could result in up to 1,200 redundancies. Jobs secured under the proposals include the transfer to BA of around 1,100 cabin crew, pilots and engineers based at Heathrow and up to 400 passenger services jobs at Heathrow Terminal 1. The UK redundancies will mainly be at Castle Donington and at regional airports.
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IAG keeps 42 pairs of slots at Heathrow out of the 56 acquired from bmi
ABA's parent company, IAG, has to give up 14 pairs of daily take-off and landing slots at Heathrow, in order for its take-over of bmi to be approved. BA gains 56 pairs of slots per day, so without the 14, is gaining 42 pairs, which will be used to expand BA's operations at Heathrow with new destinations and more schedules. Seven of the relinquished Heathrow slots must be sold to operators providing flights to Edinburgh and Aberdeen. IAG must also provide competitors with access to seats on its UK and European services, allowing airlines such as Virgin to book journeys for passengers who wish to transfer on to its long-haul flights. Completion of the sale of bmi by Lufthansa is anticipated to take place around 20 April. Walsh said IAG would operate bmi's published schedule in the short-term but soon expand IAG's long-haul network, announcing new destinations in Asia.
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Two local farmers from Nantes and local politician on hunger strike against the planned airport
The campaigners against the proposed new NantesAirport just outside the city at Notre-Dames-des-Landes have entered Nantes with sheep and tractors and “plan to stay a while” ! They are supporting two peasant farmers who have gone on hunger strike because they have had papers served for the compulsory purchase their land to make way for the airport. What is particularly dreadful about this is the fact that the authorities who want to build the airport are still facing legal challenges from the campaigners. If these legal challenges are successful, the airport make be stopped but peasant farmers will have lost their land and their livelihood.